| Summary: | <p>This thesis asserts the importance and distinctiveness of sacerdotes and sacerdotia of the Roman republic, drawing principally on late republican and early imperial evidence to elucidate the value and worth of such positions. In focusing on the behaviours, virtues and morals ascribed to these important figures and their collegia, it is demonstrated that being a sacerdos was perceived – by sacerdotes themselves, and by contemporaries, historians, and moralists – to have had an intrinsic importance and distinctiveness which demands identification and explication. This recognition, that being a sacerdos meant more than its political currency, allows us to gain a richer perspective on the worth of these important public figures than is currently appreciated.</p>
<p>This thesis consists of two parts. The first part examines how expectations of various sacerdotes were framed in a variety of ancient texts, and considers whether there were points of commonality between ancient authors in their expressions of expectations of the virtues, behaviours, and roles of various sacerdotes. The second part analyses the evaluations of various sacerdotes by three authors – Cicero, Livy, and Valerius Maximus. In these case studies, I consider the ways in which these writers evaluated contemporary and historical sacerdotes, and articulated their importance and distinctiveness. In contrast to existing, largely indeterminate approaches, I assert that there were perceptions of the value, worth, and distinctiveness for Roman sacerdotes of the late republic and early empire. It is demonstrated that becoming a sacerdos was perceived as not merely the possession of yet another honor, such as the holding of a magisterial position. Rather, it is shown that there was something special, even unique, about being a Roman sacerdos.</p>
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